A few weeks after Tim and Leslie's party, Marie again brought up the idea of carrying a baby for them. Leslie couldn't have children but she and Tim both loved kids. Rich was still having a hard time with the idea that Marie would be pregnant and more or less unavailable. It's not that Rich was grossed out by her pregnant belly, but somehow Marie just became completely uninterested in sex while she was pregnant. "It would be a really nice thing to do for them," Marie began.
"You know what happened the last time you were pregnant. You didn't want anything to do with me," Rich argued. "There's no way I want that to happen again. I mean, I'm a man. I need sex."
Marie just stared at her husband. She knew he was right. Rich's libido might be lower than it used to be, but he had the the highest libido of any person she knew and that included men half his age.
Luckily for Rich, it was time for work so the conversation was tabled.
That night, laying in bed after making love, Marie confessed to Rich, "I spoke to Leslie today. I think she would be willing to make up for any sex that you might miss. Rich, they really want another baby. They're willing to do almost anything. I think she even may have talked Tim into it. It's just you holding things up."
Rich didn't like being made the bad guy. "Really? I'm the bad guy?" he thought. Aloud he said, "I'm sure Tim is willing. I've seen the way he looks at you. He has no qualms about going direct deposit with you."
Marie began to pull away from him, "I didn't bring this up to fight. I just want you to really consider it. I won't do anything if you haven't agreed. Just think about it ok? I mean, we have three kids. Sure they drive us crazy sometimes, but think about how lucky we are and how much this would mean to our friends. Our close friends."
Rich tightened his clutch, "don't roll away. Just hug me. I'm really confused about all of this. I really don't know what to think or to feel about this."
Marie acquiesced and melted back into his arms and they fell asleep intertwined. Rich slept fitfully, dreaming about his friend depositing his semen into Marie and nine months of pregnancy imposed chastity. Marie slept just as fitfully dreaming about the same thing but with very different feelings.
That weekend, Tim and Leslie threw another party. This time the kids all went to Rich and Marie's house and no one else was invited. Just a small cozy party for two couples. A dinner party to formalize the plan developing between them. Rich still wasn't sure about Marie carrying their child, but it seemed like the longer the conversation went on, the more likely it was going to happen. Oh sure, they would have to sign all the legal documents so that someone else could be the parents, but that really seemed like a foregone conclusion.
Leslie looked at Rich, "You have no idea how much this means to us. To me. How grateful we - I will be."
Rich took a sip of his wine. Dry, it didn't help his mouth. Leslie was attractive and fun to be around, they would never have been friends if the women hadn't worked together when Marie had first moved to town. But their paths had crossed, through Marie and here they were. Rich studied her face for what seemed like forever. Her eyes were dark inky pools, her medium bodied lips pressed into a thin smile. Her dark hair fell around her face contrasting her pale skin. He could not be completely sure of her meaning.
"Rich, are you good with this?" Tim broke into his thoughts. Rich turned to assess the question. "I don't want to do anything you don't want to do. And I don't want you to do anything you aren't really ready to do."
"I'm about 85% sure," Rich sounded more sure than he claimed, surprised at the words escaping his lips.
"Good. We're really happy that you guys are on board. This is just the ultimate gift,"
To Rich, it looked like Tim might tear up, just a little. Rich placed his arm around his friend's shoulder, "I know. Happy to do it," there was that confident sounding voice again. Where what that coming from?
They finished dinner, dessert was in there somewhere, another drink or two and then the night was over. They parted company with the plans and the schedule laid out for the next few months.
On the short ride home, Marie patted Rich's hand. "Thank you, honey. I don't think you will regret this."
"I hope not," he replied.
The schedule they had agreed to meant Marie detoured on her way home from work three nights a week. It also left Rich more or less hanging. He had agreed to the arrangement, but he knew he wasn't as happy with it as he told everyone he was. He was drinking more, brooding around the house and watching porn when Marie wasn't home. Rich also was masturbating a lot. It wasn't even satisfying, more like an angry, fast cock pounding two or even three times per day that left him spent but not complete.
A few weeks into this withering, sexless schedule - at least for Rich, he wasn't sure that he could take being on the "outs" anymore. Marie surely noticed his foul mood as they ate dinner silently. When they were done eating she cleared the table, watching him sip his after dinner coffee. Rich stood up abruptly, declaring, "I'm tired Marie. I'm going to bed."
"Ok, honey," she watched him walk to their room and close the door. Rich didn't normally go to bed this early. "Something's wrong," she thought. Rich had always been a pretty jealous guy and it seemed like their selfless agreement was taking its toll on him. They had decided not to talk about what her and Tim did exactly, and Marie wasn't sure if that was helping or hurting the situation. Rich was definitely in a funk tonight though.
She finished clearing the table and sat back down to think. Marie poured herself a glass of wine -- "just one" since she was trying to get pregnant, after all. She sipped slowly at the red in her glass, it took nearly an hour to empty the small wine glass. "I guess that's about it," Marie thought, resigning herself to the cold shoulder awaiting her in their marital bed. She slowly walked down the hall quietly opening and then closing the bedroom door. Marie made her way to the master bath to wash away the day. When she reopened the bathroom door she could see the swath of light that traveled across the floor and over the bed. Rich lay snoring lightly, turned away from her side of the bed. "He's still mad."
Saturday morning came way too fast. Rich liked to sleep in, but the light coming through their window poked at him like an anxious child. Marie had already made coffee, a cup steamed lightly on Rich's side of the bed. "Great," Rich thought, "how can I act mad and pout around when she's going to bring me coffee?" He smiled thinly at Marie, "thanks for the coffee sweetheart." He hoped it didn't sound to cheerful.
Marie was sipping her own cup of caffeinated pleasure. "I'm going to take the kids to the park this morning," she looked him over. "Don't worry about getting up, you can watch your political shows or whatever."
Rich was a bit puzzled, but time to himself felt like exactly what he needed. Maybe he could put in his favorite porn, or watch a fishing show without interruption. Rich shook his head, probably fishing -- that's better for my mood. Watching women put out for the camera was just frustrating when his own wife wasn't putting out for him. Rich lay in bed flipping channels, not finding anything interesting. He heard the front door open and then close. The house lay in virtual silence. "Not even a kiss," he thought. He wasn't sure how long he just sat watching TV. Well, at least three cups of coffee long. Now it was bulging in his bladder. He walked to the bathroom, taking his first piss of the morning. There was just something about draining a full bladder in the morning, like urine had built up in his whole body and the pressure was released from the top of his head down through the soles of his feet. It left a tingly feeling across his skin, not the same as an orgasm but it some ways just as satisfying. Rich watched as his stream splashed and swirled in the toilet foaming in that curious way that urine does. He decided not to flush figuring that he would be adding to the bowl before long. "Hell, I'm going to leave the seat up," he said to himself in the mirror. It was, of course, the ultimate act of disobedience.
Rich grabbed the last cup of coffee and noticed there was just a few minutes left on the two hour timer. He pushed the button to turn off the coffee maker anyway and made his way back to his room to see if he could find something to watch out of six hundred channels of crap. He considered making another pot of coffee trying to weigh whether the jitters of over caffeine were worth the risk. He heard the front door open and close again. Marie usually stayed at the park much longer than that. "Well, I'm not getting up. I have to maintain my level of pissed off," he thought. He flipped the channel on the TV, still not finding anything worth watching. Slowly he became aware of Marie standing in the doorway. Rich pretended not to see her. "Why is she just standing there?" As if she could hear his thoughts she started advancing into the room.
